Scotia is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

located in Patton Township,

Centre County Centre County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,172. Its county seat is Bellefonte. Centre County is composed of the State College, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. Although the community was called Scotia, the name of the local post office was Benore. (''Ben'' is

Gaelic Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to: Languages * Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...

for "mountain f but further etymology of the name is unknown.)

History

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

leased five hundred acres from Moses Thompson in the iron ore rich

pine barrens Pine barrens, pine plains, sand plains, or pineland areas occur throughout the U.S. from Florida to Maine (see Atlantic coastal pine barrens) as well as the Midwest, West, and Canada and parts of Eurasia. Perhaps the most well known pine-barre ...

in the

Nittany Valley Nittany Valley is an erosion, eroded anticline, anticlinal valley located in Centre County, Pennsylvania, Centre County, Pennsylvania. It is separated from the Bald Eagle Valley by Bald Eagle Mountain and from Penns Valley by Mount Nittany. The va ...

. The area had been surface-mined since the early nineteenth century for local furnaces. Carnegie sought to finance a mining operation for his modern furnaces in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. He convinced the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

to extend the line that traveled from Tyrone to Fairbrook to terminate in the barrens. In 1880 Carnegie bought multiple land tracts and financed company housing, a store, a church, an office building, stables, and an ore washer. Scotia's population peaked at about 400 people, growing to include a civic center with a small library, a baseball team, and a band called the Forest Cornet Band. In 1899 Carnegie sold the iron works at Scotia to the Bellefonte Furnace Company. The mines would close in 1911. The Scotia Barrens was the site of a lumber operation connected to a sawmill in

Waddle Waddle may refer to: * Waddle, Pennsylvania Waddle is a populated place in Patton Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Buffalo Run Valley, Happy Valley, and the larger Nittany Valley. Geography Waddle is ...

until about 1915. These operations along with fires have destroyed all the original forests. The Federal government spent $500,000 to reopen the mines in the wake of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, but the ore was considered poor quality and the mines were again shut down and abandoned.

Scotia Barrens

The Scotia Barrens have a micro climate known as a frost pocket. Air from the ridge tops rushes down and gets trapped in the low lying area, making the Scotia Barrens usually colder than the surrounding areas.

Ecology

The Barrens are biologically diverse and are home to endangered plant and wildlife. The Scotia Barrens are one of the largest pitch pine/scrub oak barrens left in Pennsylvania, and the habitat of a high diversity and number of birds, including over thirty-three species of

warblers Various Passeriformes (perching birds) are commonly referred to as warblers. They are not necessarily closely related to one another, but share some characteristics, such as being fairly small, vocal, and insectivorous. Sylvioid warblers T ...

, and the

northern saw-whet owl The northern saw-whet owl (''Aegolius acadicus'') is a species of small true owl, owl in the Family (biology), family Strigidae. The species is native to North America. Saw-whet owls of the genus ''Aegolius'' are some of the smallest owl species ...

Parks and Recreation

The Barrens lie on the 6,200 acres of State Game Lands #176. The Game Lands include paths for hiking, biking, and horseback riding, as well as a shooting range. The ruins of the ore washing site are covered in

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

and serve as an attraction for hikers.

References

{{Centre County, Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Centre County, Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania Nittany Valley Ghost towns in Pennsylvania Geography of Centre County, Pennsylvania